need help with Map-Packer

[ethan]

i cant figure out how to get my maps into the map packer so i can pack them and put it into emp! can someone help :- ???

[DjCiD]

i wish i could, but im having trouble with fan mad maps i cant get them to show up... i out them in the right place... or so i thought... but they wont show up!?!? >:(

maybe someone could help us both?!?! ;D

[ethan]

yes, i have fan made maps...i believe its called Bulls-eye

[IxianMace]

I can help you all out here.

To make downloaded fan made maps appear in MapPacker (so you can unpack them), you must click on the settings tab for MapPacker. There are two fields here. One that says "Map Editor directory" and the other says "Directory to place packed map files in"

Click on the folder icon near the BOTTOM field (i.e. the field that says "Directory to place packed map files in"

Now locate the downloaded .cmf file yourself and click open.

You should now see the .cmf file in the field under the "Unpack" tab. Select it and press the "Unpack" button and that's it. You can play it in Emperor now.

From here on you should download all the maps to the folder where you downloaded the first map (this is where you told MapPacker to look to find the file and open it.) They should automatically appear in the "Unpack" tab once you've placed them in the folder. Otherwise if you download them into a different folder, be sure to copy the file in the folder with the original map you unpacked.

This will usually be something along the lines of C:MapPackerCMaps

[IxianMace]

Ethan I don't understand your first post. Do you mean that you've made your own maps and you want to put them up for download here? Or do you mean that you want to unpack fan made maps that you've downloaded, and play them in Emperor? If it is the latter, then refer to my previous post.

[ethan]

i meant i downloaded a mod and want to use it :P

[ethan]

does the format change or do i use the same file?

[IxianMace]

If it's a MOD, (e.g. Kwisatz Haderach etc, etc), then follow the read me file that usually comes with the it. Mods are usually in .zip format. You should not use MapPacker to decompress .zip files or mods, simply because MapPacker is only designed for use with .cmf files (i.e. fan made maps for Emperor). Mods usually just involve unzipping some files to certain directories and creating new directories and placing files in them.

[ethan]

sigh, i mean fan-made-map.

[Gobalopper]

Ok so have you set your map directory in Map Packer? And are your downloaded maps in the directory?

[ethan]

i figured it out...finally.

what in your opinion, the best fan made map?

[DjCiD]

for best looks it has to be Ixian Experiment Site.

best gmae play then you'll need to down load Fight Club or one of the other *FEW* made maps... i dont think any have been send to Gob for uploading but will try and gather all nessicary files and do that as long as the makers of map says ok.

[DjCiD]

ok i need to know how to make the following files, in order to pack them up for upload to Gob:

.cpf

.cpt

.lit

.dat

can anyone help?

[ethan]

where is the Fight club and ix maps?

[Gobalopper]

Have you run Shadowmaker and Washcompressor?

[DjCiD]

who me?

ummmm i dnont think he did.... (i didnt make map just advertising)

you can get Ixian map at the fan maps here at gobs site, and i'm tryingto get all the files need to upload *FEW* maps

[IxianMace]

Ok I'll run through the steps of making the 7 files necessary to create the .cmf file. When you've finished building ALL the features of your map, you should have at least 2 files in the folder that Mapeditor created in your Emperor/Data/Maps directory. These two files should be:

test.xbf

test.tga

Run Shadowmaker and select your script. Now select the folder of your map and click 'create shadows'. This will create another 2 files.

test.lit

texture.dat

Now run Washcompressor, look in the folder that has your map name and select test.tga. Click open. Now click save. You will now have two more files.

test.cpt

test.cpf

At this stage, trash test.tga, you don't need it anymore. Now you have 5 files in total.

test.cpt

test.cpf

test.lit

test.xbf

texture.dat

All that remains now is to make the !05%thumb.tga file and the .txt file. I can't explain how to make the thumbnail, because I now use 4 programs and a very tedious method of manipulation to create it. To create the .txt file you should follow the template in the data folder where you installed MapPacker and give it the same name as the map when you save the .txt file. After you've created the thumbnail, you should open MapPacker, go to the 'Pack' tab and select your map name in the list. You should have all 7 files so it should say 'Ready to proceed' near the bottom of the screen. Press the 'Pack' button and select a number from the list that appears. Click ok and the compression begins. The .cmf file should be saved in the CMaps folder in your MapPacker directory.

[DjCiD]

i used the templet to make the .txt

ran the shadowmaker and got the .lit & .dat

ran washcompressor and it crashed :-

will keep trying.

[DjCiD]

what do you suggest is the best shadow to use?

[IxianMace]

Well that depends on what you personally like the look of best I guess. I've only tried nighttime.ssf and giediprimescript.ssf but the giediscript didn't make the test.lit file like it should have which is a bit of a worry. I still need to try the other colourwashes.